We consider a short film to be under 15 minutes, the time limit for most our competitive categories but we also consider longer short format work in our Long Form selection which includes work up to 30 minutes in length.

The competitive categories and awards are:

The International Award
The Long Form Award
The Documentary Award
The Short Film Award
The Animation Award
The Music Video Award
The Pushing Boundaries Award
The Newcomers Award
The Audience Award

The categories are broken down as follows:

THE INTERNATIONAL AWARD

Length: Under 15 minutes

Live action, fictional work from outside the UK. Work is entered by new and established talent alike.

THE LONG FORM AWARD

Length: Under 30 minutes

Animated & live action, fictional work, made in the UK and abroad, from a selection of both new and established talent.

THE PUSHING BOUNDARIES AWARD

Length: Under 5 minutes

Branded content meets Experimental media. This includes motion graphics, idents, personal promotional work, commercial sequences, spots, title sequences, digital posters and work specifically designed for multiplatform distribution including the internet and mobile networks.

THE NEWCOMER AWARD

Length: Under 15 minutes

Fictional work from the UK. This category is for entrants who’ve directed no more than one other short piece of film thats received distribution i.e. you can enter one or both of your first two films in this category.

THE SHORT FILM AWARD

Length: Under 15 minutes

Fictional work from the UK. Generally the entrant will have directed a number of short format pieces whether that be documentary, short film, animation, music promo or commercial work.

THE DOCUMENTARY AWARD

Length: Under 15 minutes

Factual work, which can also be animated. Generally the entrant will have directed a number of short format pieces whether that be documentary, short film, animation, music promo or commercial work.

THE ANIMATION AWARD

Length: Under 15 minutes

Factual, fiction or non-fiction material. Generally the entrant will have directed a number of short format pieces whether that be documentary, short film, animation, music promo or commercial work.

THE MUSIC VIDEO AWARD

Length: Under 15 minutes

Music Promos which can include Animation. Generally the entrant will have previously directed a number of short format pieces whether that be documentary, short film, animation, music promo or commercial work.

THE AUDIENCE AWARD

At each Official Screening, members of the audience are given a voting form and asked to choose the film they most enjoyed.
Forms are handed back to the festial desk at the end of each screening.
The film the receives the highest percentage of votes from the audience is nominated the winner.

Those unsure of which category to enter should contact the festival office. Each film may only be entered into one category, where a film is entered into several categories the festival office will designate the most appropriate category.

We accept competitive submissions from 01 December 2011 to 05 April 2012.